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| Nagaland Governor Nikhil Kumar and Union law minister Salman Khurshid at the birth anniversary celebration of Bihar’s first chief minister Sri Krishna Sinha at SK Memorial Hall in Patna on Thursday. Picture by Nagendra Kumar Singh |
Patna, Oct. 20: Union law and minority affairs minister Salman Khurshid today said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was not the only person responsible for price rise and inflation in the country.
Khurshid’s comment came in response to Union agriculture minister Sharad Pawar’s recent statement that the Prime Minister was responsible for the food inflation. Pawar had said UPA-II was a “weak government” and distanced himself from the crisis of flood inflation, saying it was a question for Manmohan Singh to answer.
“Neither the UPA nor the Congress leadership subscribes to what Pawar has to say. It is his personal view. The entire cabinet is responsible for the price hike and the inflation. Singh has to face more attacks because he heads the cabinet,” the law minister told newspersons on the sidelines of a series of special lectures organised by Patna University.
Heaping praise on Singh’s ways of tackling price rise, Khurshid said the entire world has accepted the mechanism adopted by the Prime Minister.
The law minister, who reached the capital today to take part in the first lecture series of Patna University on the “Role of judiciary in democracy”, said Singh had convened an all-party meeting to decide on Team Anna’s proposal on the right to reject and the right to recall on electoral reforms.
Though he did not take the name of Team Anna, Khurshid said there are some people who feel that people’s power is supreme and they have the power to change the Constitution. He, however, had a word of caution for them: “The Constitution is supreme as it is the people who entrusted some people with the task to prepare the Constitution.”
The minister claimed that even the Supreme Court had once observed that the Constitution was supreme. “While hearing the Kesavanand Bharti case, the apex court had in 1973 observed that the basic structure of the Constitution could not be abrogated even by a constitutional amendment.”
He added: “Our Constitution is one the best written constitutions in the world because it has mentioned power of all three pillars of democracy — legislative, executive and judiciary. Some people say democracy is not an ideal way of governance. But it is the best way of governance that we know.”
While delivering the lecture at Patna University, the Union minister became nostalgic as he recalled his childhood in Patna and days at St Xavier’s School, Patna. Khurshid said: “The students of the university should be more argumentative, but in a positive way. By being argumentative does not mean to stage protests or argue over wrong reasons. The students and the teachers of Patna University should try to be a role model for people outside Bihar.”
Chancellor of universities in Bihar Devanand Konwar, who was the chief guest at the function, also said the Constitution was supreme and its basic tenets could not be changed. Patna University vice-chancellor Shambu Nath Singh said the institute would organise more such lectures in near future.
Students’ protests
All India Students’ Federation (AISF) members staged a protest in front of Wheeler Senate Hall, where Governor Devanand Konwar and Union law minister Salman Khurshid had gone to attend the first lecture series organised by Patna University. The students were seeking recall of the governor and appointment of VCs. Pirbhor police prevented the demonstrators from entering the Senate Hall.